RBS Cup; Mirrielees jets in to boost Selkirk ahead of Borders clash with Kelso

Selkirk will have Kiwi prop Peter Mirrielees in their ranks for their home RBS Border Regional Cup tie with Kelso this afternoon after he arrived in Scotland in midweek.

The 28-year-old arrives from Otago highly recommended and will fill the void left by Rob Taylor who has gone back to New Zealand after seven years at Philiphaugh.

Selkirk director of rugby Dennis Henderson said: “Peter has played nine times for Otago and was a member of team that recently beat Auckland for the first time in 26 years.”

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The hosts head into the encounter which kicks off at 3pm having defeated Peebles and lost to Hawick and Gala in the competition so far.

Kelso gave Melrose a run for their money last week at the Greenyards and scrum-half Andy Tait has recovered from injury sustained in that 17-7 loss to again start at 9.

Ewan Ford, who is now playing in the back-row, has not been able to shake off his injury though and misses out.

With Gala not playing a cup tie today, they are involved in a friendly with Watsonians, and Hawick will look to exert some pressure on at the top of the table if they can win at Peebles (3pm).

The Greens welcome back captain Bruce McNeil to the back-row for the trip to the Gytes, the Scotland club internationalist linking up with Keith Davies and Michael Robertson in a mobile looking trio. Peebles will be looking to vastly improve on their last outing a fortnight ago when they were defeated 41-3 by Gala.

The third tie in the Borders sees Jed-Forest hosting Melrose at 2pm. The home side will be without exciting young brothers Lewis and Gregor Young for the match at Riverside Park. James Hogg moves from scrum-half to full-back to accommodate the return of the experienced Ross Goodfellow to the team.

Andrew Nagle also moves from back-row to centre from the team that lost to Selkirk two weeks ago.

For Melrose Scott McCormick is replaced by young Bruce Colvine at scrum-half.

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In the pack prop Nick Beavon returns from injury, while Ross Miller starts in the second-row with Peter Eccles moving to 6.

Grant Runciman also returns to the back-row in place of David Crawford. Ross Ovens and Chris Hardie have also earned places on the bench.

Elsewhere today, the RBS Caledonia Regional Cup gets under way with Stirling County taking on Falkirk and the RBS West Regional Cup’s first match is set to be played when Ayr travel to West of Scotland.